Abstract

Both Procambarus clarkii and Procambarus zonangulus are cambarid crayfishes cultured in earthen ponds. Adult crayfish are stocked in the spring and construct burrows when ponds are drained several weeks later. The crayfish lay and incubate their eggs in these burrows and emerge with their young when the ponds are refilled in the autumn of the year. Therefore, crayfish burrows are critical to the success/failure of crayfish culture of the two crayfish species as it is currently practised. This paper describes the burrows of crayfish cultured in a heavy clay soil crayfish pond system in south-central Louisiana. There is no obvious difference between the burrows of P. clarkii and P. zonangulus. New burrows are crowned with a characteristic, turret-shaped “chimney” constructed from the soil excavated from the burrow. The burrows are almost always simple, subvertical tubes 5-10 cm in diameter and 1.0-1.5 m in depth with a somewhat enlarged terminal chamber. Burrows are usually occupied either by a pair of crayfish or by a male or a female of one or the other species.

Supplemental Documents

• There are no supplementary documents for this article

Cited By

Citations: